grim dawn, path of exile, or torchlight 2

[Rymarre]

just looking around to see what's more liked

[Greenegg]

Torchlight 2 is an amazing game, but it's mostly dead, I think path of exile ultimately surpasses it because it's still being supported and has a much larger community still around

[steffire3]

Path of Exile:
is about micro managing numbers for small boosts over a long period of character development.
Requires a constant Internet connection at least this guarantees no cheating apparently.

Grim Dawn:
So many combos, so many options, so many items, so many builds, so many theories.
Can also be modded, Indie developer always patching numbers every month.

Torchlight 2:
Reduced grind, reduced complexity, easier to access, lively themes, some great mods.
Without mods the game is lacking, developer is gone, reduced number of active players.

= = =

Feel free to correct me, that's my general impression between these three options.

[Uber Conan]

I haven't played Path of Exile in a few years, but I actively play Grim Dawn and Torchlight 2. The short of it, I mostly agree with steffire3 above.

Multiplayer:
I think Torchlight 2 has some of the best handling of multiplayer. Later in GD there can be some frustrations if you make different plot choices. TL2

Graphics:
PoE and GD are similar, both in quality and in mood. As their names suggest, they definitely provide a little more grittiness. TL2 is more upbeat and leaves out detail, but its decision to do so is well done and you generally don't feel like you're missing anything visually. GD is my personal favorite, but sometimes I appreciate TL2's more pleasant feeling.

Sound:
I like a couple musical pieces from TL2, but as a whole I prefer GD. Much of GD's music and sound effects can be listened to for hours without getting tired of them. I actually dislike many of the TL2 sound effects, which seem really mismatched to the creatures appearing on the screen, though they avoid following stereotypes.

Replayability:
I think GD takes the cake on this, but TL2 does a pretty good job too. As stated by steffire3, GD has a ton of build combinations, more than I've seen in any other game. There will almost always be something new to try. TL2 doesn't require much grinding to play through- enemies are well balanced, and so it stays somewhat fresh. Once you hit level 100 though, there is no further benefit for your character than finding loot and clearing out unfinished achievements. That can be a turn off for many, especially since one achievement requires selling 50,000 items to vendors. I've got over 400 hours in TL2 and achievements are my main draw at this point. Many fellow gamers got tired of playing after maxing out the four classes and having no further leveling.

[steffire3]

Do forgive my honest reply yet I had to do it.

Originally posted by Uber Conan:

Graphics:
PoE and GD are similar, both in quality and in mood... they definitely provide a little more grittiness. TL2 is more upbeat and leaves out detail but sometimes I appreciate TL2's more pleasant feeling.

For all you Parents out there wanting to play Grim Dawn with your Toddlers.

By "little more grittiness" we mean that one scene in "Saving Private Ryan" where that poor guy screamed his spilled organs out of his belly on the shore early in the movie.

Then the team Copy Pasted his poor guts over many walls in some of the torture cultures in Grim Dawn guarded by even more bloated torn versions of poor guts as mangled soldier monsters in an attempt to give your kids nightmares at night.

= = =

Oddly, Torchlight 2 also seems to suggest torture cultures of the same kind however the decision to turn everyone from mangled zombies into a "fruit loops commercial" helps turn it into a "more pleasant feeling" and it's attempts at depression actually twist into a fun adventure trying to redeem the lovable killer Darth Vader- I mean Dark Alchemist.

Which is even more oddly twisted (in a kid friendly way?) than the sad gore of Grim Dawn where you just shoot the Joker- I mean warped killer in the face and ask about friendship- I mean frenemies later... 'cause seriously in Grim Dawn nothing can truly die- it just comes back as the Spirit of Video Game Past- I mean Aetheral Ghosts and haunt the nostalgia- I mean the minds of ARPG gamers- I mean of Cairn residents.

So how much more "Happy" is Torchlight over Grim Dawn?

It's over 9000! ^_^

Originally posted by Uber Conan:

Sound:
I actually dislike many of the TL2 sound effects, which seem really mismatched to the creatures appearing on the screen, though they avoid following stereotypes.

Although I find there is a "sound" reason to say that Torchlight is a surprising candidate for TvTropes.com.

Since the 4 Stereotypes we play are:

College- I mean Game Developers- I mean Imperials- I mean Engineers.

Loners- I mean Rebels- I mean your "friendly neighborhood Spiderman"- I mean Outlanders.

Wizards- I mean Frozen Disney- I mean Key Blades- I mean AgeXmembers. (< confirmed).

Muscles- I mean Fans- I mean if Sith actually knew what anger was- I mean Berserkers.

= = =

And don't get me started on how many in game Unique weapons are named after other popular pop culture books, songs and movies.

= = =

The rest (of the game) is History- I mean "something we have never seen before".

Because every honest business has to admit they have said that at least once. ^_^

[Knucklehead85202]

Originally posted by steffire3:

Path of Exile:
is about micro managing numbers for small boosts over a long period of character development.
Requires a constant Internet connection at least this guarantees no cheating apparently.

Grim Dawn:
So many combos, so many options, so many items, so many builds, so many theories.
Can also be modded, Indie developer always patching numbers every month.

Torchlight 2:
Reduced grind, reduced complexity, easier to access, lively themes, some great mods.
Without mods the game is lacking, developer is gone, reduced number of active players.

= = =

Feel free to correct me, that's my general impression between these three options.

I totally agree with everything you just said to a t

[*Yuki*]

grim dawn, since its more content-rich. You also forgot titan quest, which was grim dawn's father.
As for path of exile - I think, its better to compare it to diablo3, since its online arpg, not singleplayer

[elfenlieden]

Originally posted by Uber Conan:

Once you hit level 100 though, there is no further benefit for your character than finding loot and clearing out unfinished achievements. That can be a turn off for many, especially since one achievement requires selling 50,000 items to vendors. I've got over 400 hours in TL2 and achievements are my main draw at this point. Many fellow gamers got tired of playing after maxing out the four classes and having no further leveling.

After 100 lvl now you can see many cool mods: addeted new good classes (what i like most), and even acts and mobs, game difficulty (improved AI and others things), xp x2/x3/x5/x1000 and etc.
I like it very much.
Now, the players control the game.

[gakm7]

I would personally vouch for Grim Dawn for reasons already mentioned, and you are able to play it offline (for the people who care about offline access bc of plane rides and whatever other reasons)

The insane amount and viability of build combinations and active listening from the indie devs are the biggest positives for me. They do a great job balancing the game, and tend to make regular/small adjustments instead of bringing the nerf hammer down on ♥♥♥♥.

They are coming out with a 2nd expansion this year (possibly by mid-summer or so) which is exciting... the game is well worth the money even at full price, but especially if you wait to pick it up on one of the various sales...

I liked TL2 quite a bit as well, and it definitely has a "lighter cartoonish" mood to it when compared to the other similar games. I never modded, but I would recommend modding eventually so that you don't get bored or burned out since it's not as "in depth" as Grim Dawn is. Pick the sucker up on sale and it's WELL worth the price tag.

I have nothing good to say about Path of Exile... not that it's bad by any means, but it was more time tedious than the other similar games, among other things that I personally did not like.

I recommend getting both Grim Dawn and TL2... preferably on one of their many sales... I'll say that the Grim Dawn devs deserve the full price money though (as i gave them, and a bit beyond that) because they did such a damn good job with the game.

[Taran Ω]

Get both grim dawn and TL2. I have put 600 hours into tl2 and i love it. Just recently got grim dawn and it looks just as good.

[gakm7]

Originally posted by Taran Ω:

Get both grim dawn and TL2. I have put 600 hours into tl2 and i love it. Just recently got grim dawn and it looks just as good.

I only put like 230ish? hours into Torchlight 2 (got bored with it because I didn't do modding and I eventually accidentally built a God-tier build that could wreck anything), and I already have 400 hours into Grim Dawn with no end in sight (I am slowly starting to play games again after taking a long break from gaming). I'm not even close to getting bored with the game yet because there are SO many different build ideas (all of which are quite viable if built in a reasonable manner, but obviously to differing degrees) and so many things that I haven't tried yet...

[Xercules]

I looked a grim dawn. Said there was no dedicated summoner. 🙁

[Uber Conan]

Originally posted by Xercules:

I looked a grim dawn. Said there was no dedicated summoner. 🙁

While that is true, with the Ashes expansion you can build a skelemancer-type guy similar to a classic build in Diablo II that can bring in over a dozen persistent summons at once. This includes a bunch of skeletons, plus a familiar, hellhound, and green Pizza-The-Hut-reminiscent blight fiend.

[Xercules]

Lol, nice. Im playing tl2 atm. Ill look more at grim dawn later. Thank you!